


Change of course Extras

by Jpatel



Series: Change of Course [2]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Infinity Gems, Matchmaker Darcy Lewis, Matchmaker Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-06 04:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20285173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jpatel/pseuds/Jpatel
Summary: Various in-between scenes that I didn't put in the fic.





	1. Tony and the Old and Wise One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's introduction to the Ancient One and visit of the New York Sanctum. Yeah, it goes as well as anyone can assume.

Tony was pacing around the penthouse. He was going to meet with the Ancient One today. 

"If you keep pacing around like this, you're going to make a hole in the carpet. Stop worrying. She's kinda nice. A bit of dark humor and likes to talk in riddles. But I'm sure you'll get along." Gianna commented coming out of the kitchen. She handed him his coffee and sandwich.

He started drinking the bitter nectar of the gods. "Look, you may have watched some parts of this woman's life. And you somehow trust her enough from that little information. But I've had a track record of people stabbing me in the back and neck quite a lot, and literally in case of the stabbing in neck part, after knowing them for years. So, it's a little hard for me to trust her." He told her.

From what he had observed in the past week, she was aware of his quirks, habits, even his thinking pattern to some extent. And she seems to accept them and act accordingly. She had never handed him anything, and just put it on the nearest surface, she doesn't get judgemental or upset on his flirty nature, and just accepts it. Although it's adorable to watch her get all flustered. Her voice stopped his train of thoughts. 

"I understand that. I'm not saying you to trust her completely, and tell her all of your deep dark secrets. It's always good to be cautious. God knows how many times you've survived because of your paranoia and foresight. But give her a chance. She's not like Rogers or Romanoff, to make her opinion of you based on some tablets and gossip magazine. She's capable of looking past the masks you like to wear. And from what I know about you, those are the kind of people you like to keep around. Those that can see past your masks and accept the real you." She looked away after that. "Sorry. I kinda speak too much once I get going." 

He smiled at her, "It's okay. Anyway it's good for my ego to get a little boost now and then." 

She glared playfully at him, "Should I reduce it? Don't want you to get a big head."

JARVIS's voice brought their talk to a halt. "Sir, Miss Ancient One is here. I've directed her to the conference room on the floor 135." 

He looked up at the camera in the corner, "Thanks buddy. I'll be there in five. And inform Pepper and Ellen to get there as well." 

Then him and Gianna were in the elevator heading down to the floor 135. They collected Ellen from the guest floor. 

When they arrived at the conference room, Pepper and the Ancient One were already seated at the table. They were both talking to each other. Pepper seemed a little relaxed while talking to her. He cleared his throat to get their attention. 

"Sorry to cut short your talk ladies. But I would like to get down to business." He said.

The Ancient One turned towards him, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stark. My name is Ancient One. I'm the current Sorcerer Supreme of the Masters of the Mystic Arts." She forwarded his hand towards him and he took it.

"So, you're the leader of your cult. And what kind of name is Ancient One? And why do you have to dress like an Asian Monk, you look European to me. And where's this cult of yours based, and how come there's no mention of you guys in SHIELD? I'd bet Fury will happily give his one eye to get his hands on one of you guys, if what she'd told me is true." He rambled on. He could see Pepper giving him a glare from the corner of his eyes. And he looked back at the woman standing in front of him and she didn't look offended or angry. She looked kind of amused.

"First, it's an order, not a cult. Second, my name is not of your concern. Third, we have managed to evade SHIELD's radar for decades. We protect the world from inter-dimentional threats, and guard various magical artifacts. We've total of three sanctums around the world, which creates a protective barrier around the Earth, stopping a dark force named Dormmamu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension, from passing through the Earth plane and absorbing it into the Dark Dimension. New York, London and Hong Kong. Although we're essentially based in Kathmandu, Nepal."

He nodded. He could sort of understand their reasoning for hiding. He'd read about the Witch trials during the late 16th century and the early 17th century. From what Gianna had said their order was very old, and they'd guarded an infinity stone for a very long time. He decided to ask about them.

"So, what do you know about these two's appearance? And those stones responsible for it." He asked studying her face for any hesitation. 

"They are from a different universe. They were brought here by the infinity stones. Their souls are brought here seven years back in time, constructing new body, in exact condition in his case and healed of the wounds in her case. Surprisingly, their presence is not jeopardizing the time space continuum." She replied while looking at the two.

She waved her hands and muttered a spell, a projection of the universe appeared on the table, "Before the Universe began, six singularities existed. Sometime after the universe exploded into existence, these were formed into the six Infinity Stones by the Cosmic Entities. Each stone represented a different aspect of the universe, Space, Time, Mind, Soul, Reality, Power and Time." She explained while identifying each of the stones. The images were similar to his hologram technology. Fascinating.

He decided to ask her directly, "And your people guards one of them?" She nodded her head, "The Time Stone." She, Gianna and Ellen replied at the same time. 

"Okay." Tony replied while looking at the three of them. "You're taking this all awfully well, for someone who doesn't believe in magic." Ancient One commented. 

Tony grumbled, "Well, some people pointed it out that I can't simply dismiss it, just because I don't understand it. I've seen a lot of things in the past few years, and many of them are believed to be impossible. So, I'm going to give it a try and try to understand magic." It pained him to admit it, but his friends have made a lot of valid points. And contrary to what people believe, he actually listens to his friends and follows their advises occasionally.

Ancient One studied him for a few moments, and maybe she found what she was looking for, because next she was smiling at him. "I can lend you some books from the Kamar-Taj library, about basic knowledge of magic and it's principles. If you have some questions, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them in scientific terms."

Maybe this woman was okay. She got Pepper's approval, and seems to take in his antics with an aplomb.

"So, when are we going to this sanctum place?" He asked looking around the room. 

The Ancient One started to put a ring on her first and middle finger, "We could go just now." And opened a f***king portal in the middle of the room. Portal, chitauri, big army, cold. He gasped and scrambled away from the portal. "Shit." He heard someone say, but couldn't figure out who. Suddenly his vision was being blocked by Pepper. "It's alright. Calm down. Focus on my voice. You're safe. You're safe. You're at the tower. Everything is fine." She continued to whisper and soothe him. He tried to get his breathing under control. He could see the Ancient One saying something but he couldn't hear her words. From what he read off her lips she was apologizing. He just waved his hand at her, signalling her to not worry about it.

Once he had calmed down, Pepper stepped back to give him some space. He looked around at everyone. There were all sort of pitiful looks thrown his way. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry about that. Guess it's too soon to go around jumping through portals." He wheezed out.

Pepper let out relieved sigh. "I think we should postpone it to some other day." He started protesting at that, "There's no need for that. I am fine now." Everyone gave him a look at that.

"How about I close my eyes, you open the portal, someone guide me through it, and once she closes it, I will open my eyes again. Look guys, we don't want SHIELD to get their hands on this people. So going by car is out of the question." He looked at others.

"Mr. Stark, I believe your friends are correct and that we should postpone your visit to the sanctum. I can arrange it for some other day. And if you wish to come over your fear of portals, then I'll gladly assist you." The Ancient One said calmly. 

"Look, it's no big deal. I can handle it." He got sceptical looks at that. "Alright, fine. I don't have a lead on it. But like I said, I can close my eyes, someone can pull me through the portal, and once you close the portal, I will open my eyes again." He spread his hands wide open. He looked at everyone else in the room, "If you have any better idea, I'm all in. But right now, this is the best idea we have without causing suspicion from SHIELD."

Everyone nodded reluctantly at that. It was decided that Pepper would be the one to lead him through the portal. Once everyone got in position, he closed his eyes, and the next time, when he opened them again, he was standing in a very old house. The only sign of the portal was fading smoke and smell of burning.

"Welcome to the New York Sanctum. This is is Master Drumm. He guards the sanctum and looks after it." A man in robes similar to her stepped forward.

"Is there a particular reason that you have decorated this place like a Haunted House? I mean seriously, the decoration is horrible. The furniture is clashing with each other, and there's not even proper lighting. Do you guys even have Wi-Fi? I mean, if you guys are having problems with budget, I can help with that." He started rambling.

The Ancient One replied without any expression, "Miss Potts was generous enough to offer financial aid. And the amount she agreed to provide monthly is suffice."

"So this is..." He trailed off. "New York Sanctum. Where your friends traveled to last time. However their training will be conducted at Kamar-Taj." Saying that she took out her ring again. Tony immediately closed his eyes and grasped Pepper's hand. He felt the change in temperature and opened his eyes slowly.

They were standing in courtyard of a temple. The Temple was surrounded by snow covered mountains. Since Nepal was 10 hours ahead of USA, it was night time there.

She signaled them to follow her, "Most of the people here wake up early in the morning, so you won't find anyone out here. This is the place where people come, when they have no hope left. Very few come here in the thirst of knowledge, most of them are here to find a cure for themselves." 

They soon halted in front of a building, which from the looks inside, looked like a library. A short Asian man soon came out. "This is Master Wong. He'll oversee your friend's training along with me." 

"Wong like Beyonce?" Tony asked him. Gianna snickered at that. There was a story behind it and he was going to pry it out of her later.

"Exactly like Beyonce." Wong replied. Tony then turned towards the Ancient One, "You know that I am gonna annoy you with all my questions, right?" He asked her.

"Mr. Stark. You have potential of becoming a very powerful sorcerer yourself someday. And if answering your questions sets you on that path, then I do not see any harm in that." She smirked at him. 

"Well I will have to take your word for that. For now I will like those books you promised me." He smirked back at her. 


	2. Training at Kamar-Taj (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gianna and Ellen's training at Kamar-Taj.

Gianna woke up to the sound of morning bell. She checked the time in her phone, it was 5 am in the morning.

They had arrived yesterday afternoon at Kamar-Taj. Happy had dropped them off at the corner around the sanctum. They had made their way to the sanctum from there.

Once they had gotten in, Master Drumm had opened a portal to Kamar-Taj for them. There they had met Wong, who had shown them around, explained all the rules and regulations, discussed their schedules. After which he had disappeared back into the library. They had settled down in their rooms afterwards.

Since they were supposed to help with the day to day tasks in the Sanctum like everyone else, she had chosen kitchen duty as her primary task. She got up and took a bath. The water wasn't that hot, still she managed. She couldn't wait to get back to tower at the end of the month, since Tony needed a month to sort out their paperwork, identities issues and plant some background tracks. So, he wanted them to stay off the radar for the time being.

She entered the kitchen, and went to Master Auclair. "So, what is my task for today?" She asked him. He nodded towards the pile of vegetables, "You have to wash those and cut them. Murray will be working with you on the task." She looked at the pile, her co-worker and got to work. They managed to get rid of the whole pile in half an hour.

After breakfast she met Ellen, who had an early morning physical training class with Mordo. "Hey." He huffed out. She smiled at his panting form. "Hey. How was the training?" She smirked at him. "Okay. I think. But I'm gonna get some muscles by the end of the month, that's for sure." He said flexing his biceps. She laughed at him. "Sure. Sure. If you don't keel over by the third day." He pouted at that. "Eat your breakfast, idiot." Saying that she ruffled his hair and left. She had her own training to get to in fifteen minutes. Good thing she didn't have a cleaning duty today. 

She met up with the other students in the court yard. Mordo was already present there. He got them all paired up with another student. She had gotten paired up with a red head with hazel eyes. She reminded her of Lydia from Teen Wolf. And she told her so, when they were practicing. She laughed at her comment, "I get that a lot. So what brings you here at Kamar-Taj?"

"To learn." Gianna replied.

"Ah. One of the curious ones." She laughed at her. 

Gianna shrugged off, "So it seems. What about you? What brings you here?" 

Her smile turned sad at that, "Brain tumor. The doctors said that operation won't help me. One of the doctors had a patient who was in a similar situation two years ago, he pointed me towards her. I contacted her, and she sent me here. The doctors had said I had four months at best, now it's been six months. But I don't want to go back to that life. So, here I'm." 

Gianna gave her a small smile, and squeezed her hand, and the red head smirked at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes and the next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her back. "I'm Adria by the way." She forwarded her hand. 

Gianna realising that the other woman had flipped her, groaned out. "Gianna. Can't believe I fell for that." And Adria let out a chuckle.

******

Ellen groaned and curled up in himself. He had been knocked down by his opponent for the second time in the past 40 minutes.

"Get up Mr. Ardent. Your enemy will not wait for you to get back on your feet. You must learn to be quick on your feet." Master Narima ordered him firmly. He got up and nodded his head. 

He was doing better compared to the initial days of his training. He had gained some muscles in past two months, could hold his own against Mordo for three minutes, control his empath abilities better and was a bit fluent in Sanskrit and Latin.

"Back in the position. We're doing some other moves." Master Narima announced. And he got into a stance. They practiced different moves for another two hours, during which he managed to take down his opponent total of two times and he took down Ellen one more time.

******

Ellen woke up at the feelings of terror and distress. He could hear the noises outside. He jumped out of his chair and ran outside. Everything was a mess. There were Masters and some of the older students fighting, some of the newer ones were running out of the court yard.

Some sort of dog sized ugly creatures with wings and claws were flying around, breathing out balls of fire at everything. He looked around for Gianna and the others. He saw Adria, Gianna's friend fighting one of those things. He ran to her, dodging attacks on himself.

"Where's Gia?" He shouted. "I don't know. Last I saw, she was herding some of the students and visitors to safety. I haven't seen her since then." She shouted back. Then only, one of the creatures came down at them, but an orange whip dragged it away. The creature howled out in pain. It was then decapitated by one of the Masters. 

"You two get inside. It is not something you can handle yet. Move." He ordered them. They started to head towards the direction he had pointed, when he saw her. Gianna was headed towards an injured guy, and a creature was headed her way. But she was too focused on the guy to realize that. He panicked and let out a scream, "No..." And on instinct his hands raised and a blast of purple energy emerged from his hands and hit the creature. The creature immediately exploded in atoms. 

He ran towards her, and crouched down to help her carry the guy. They managed to drag him away from the fight and into the safe area. Adria who was following them all the time rasped out, "Holy cow. That was epic. I've never seen anyone do something like that. Is that why you guys are here? Can you shoot out energy balls like that too?" She shooted question after question at them. 

"Adria, slow down. We can talk about it later. We need to patch him up. He's bleeding out." Gianna gestured towards the guy. "Yeah. Sorry. Uh. I need some water, a washcloth and bandages. His wounds aren't deep. Oh and some disinfectant and ointment as well." She ordered them. Both of them looked at each other, shrugged and got to work. They managed to get all of the things she asked for. 

"Alright, then. Mister. I'm gonna clean your wounds and patch you up." Adria told the guy. He gulped and nodded his head. She started to clean his wounds and everything. 

Gianna and Ellen left the two of them to it, standing at some distance. "So, you can throw energy blasts?" Gianna asked him. "Apparently." He shrugged off. "It was purple in color, so maybe it's the Power Stone." She suggested. "Maybe." He replied in monosyllable again. "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like that?" Her question made his blood boil. He yanked her closer, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with YOU? What were you thinking jumping in like that? You could have gotten hurt." He dragged her closer. She was opening and closing her mouth, and then looked away. "I'm sorry." She whispered. He sighed and hugged her tightly. "Don't do that to me. Even the thought of loosing you scares me. I can't bear to loose you again." He whispered in her hair. She squeezed him and whispered, "You won't." 

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought them back. They immediately sprang away from each other. He looked at the couple standing in front of them. "As much as I find it adorable and sappy, I need to know what happened out there." Adria asked with her hands on her hips. "It's a long story. Kind of something we don't want everyone knowing." He tried to deflect. 

"Alright. It's your secret to keep. Tell me whenever you want to, if you want to." She replied. Both of them let out a sigh of relief at that. "Oh, by the way. Meet him. Vasil Petrov." The guy they saved, waved at them. "Nice to meet you." He replied in an accented voice.

"Petrov. Are you.." Gianna tried to ask him, but he cut her off, "Bulgarian? Yes." She nodded her head in acknowledgement. 

They chatted for a while, and checked up on others if someone else needed medical attention or not. They patched up two three people. The doors to the room soon opened up and the Ancient One was standing there with two other Masters. "The situation is under control now. You can come out. Is anyone badly injured?" She asked looking around. But they had gotten away early. So no one was injured that badly, except for Vasil, whom they had already treated. 

Everyone started to get out of the room. Soon, it was just the four of them and the Ancient One. "I believe you have found one of your abilities Ellen." Ellen nodded his head. "Good then. From tomorrow you'll be training to master it as well." And she turned around and left. He groaned out at her announcement. More training.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 23 in the main fic.  
Someone asked me how Pepper and Gianna got back at the estate, and here's how it happened.

Gianna slowly blinked her eyes open. She could feel a wet cloth being pressed on her head. She tried to remember what happened. It was hazy for the first few seconds, but then everything came back to her. She felt anger, frustration and worry for those idiots. Various scenarios started to run through her head, possibilities of all the ways it could go wrong. 

It was Adria's voice that brought her out of her thoughts, "You're up. How're you feeling?" She asked her worriedly. Gianna sat up and batted her hand away, "I'm fine. Just a little headache. He brought me to sanctum?" She asked confusedly. Adria let out a sigh and again started to rub her head with the washcloth, "He asked me to open up a portal for him. I opened it at Kamar-Taj. I thought you'll be out a bit longer." She asked surprised. Gianna grunted from her position, "I didn't pass out. The idiot put me to sleep. But my mental shields git rid of his influence in minutes. If he had stayed and kept the physical contact, I wouldn't have woken up." 

Gianna soon stood up. She did have some difficulty in standing or walking, but she would worry about it later. "I'm going to tower. I need to check on Pepper." And then she teleported herself outside the Hulk room. She looked at Pepper, and saw that she was still glowing orange. "JARVIS, why is she still glowing? Is the cure not working?"

Pepper's head whipped in her direction. She tried to reach out to her, so Gianna teleported herself inside the room. She knew that if she touched her right now, she would burn herself. "It's okay. It's okay. Everything is going to be fine." She tried to soothe Pepper. "JARVIS, where is Bruce? And what is happening?" She asked again. "Dr. Banner is in his lab. I have informed him of your arrival. He will meet you shortly. In the meantime, he requested for you to leave the cage."

Gianna huffed at that. She turned to Pepper, "Don't worry. Once I talk to Bruce, I'm going back there. I'll make sure those idiots don't die." And she teleported herself outside the cage. Soon, Bruce arrived, and he looked stressed. "Bruce, what's wrong?" 

Bruce pinched his nose, and then massaged his temples. "She has a modified version running through her veins, and it's fighting the cure actively. When I injected her first time, it burned up all of the cure. She'll need a bag of it. And even then I'm not sure, if it'll be enough. There is also the fact that the Extremis seems to be accepting Pepper's DNA, and is altering it to some degree. Even if the cure removes the virus from her body, it won't do anything for the DNA parts that are already mutated. Point is she will be enhanced, and there isn't anything I can do there." 

They heard a choking noise, and an angry sob behind them. Pepper was crying. She teleported herself beside her, "Shh. Hey, Pepper. Please, don't cry. I know it's a lot to take in." She whispered softly. But unfortunately she couldn't touch Pepper. She tried to hold her, but it singed her hand, and seeing that, Pepper sobbed harder. She was starting to burn up more than before, "Take me with you. Please. I am too angry right now. If I don't deck that b*****d in his face. The things he said about me and you, I want to burn him in pits of hell." 

Bruce protested, "Pepper you can't. The virus.." But Pepper cut him off, "You just told her a few minutes ago, that the virus accepts my DNA. I'm not going to combust." She told him viciously. "Let's go Gianna. I'm not sitting here waiting, while he fights there." And Gianna nodding her head teleported both of them to the estate they were kept at before. 

They could see Tony and Killian fight on the roof, and then how Tony blew up Killian. "I'll go and search for the others. You go to him. And please, be careful around the suits. They are targeting the extremis heat signatures." Then Gianna was off searching for Ellen and Rhodey.

*****

Tony had landed on the ground after he took a tumble from the roof. Pepper was heading his way, when she saw Killian stand up and walk towards Tony. She frantically looked around to find something, a weapon or anything. Tony was sliding back, and he didn't have his armor. She found a long yellow pipe lying in the debris, she snatched it and started to head their way. She heard Killian declaring himself the Mandarin, and she bashed him with the pipe at her full strength. And that had him flying away. Pepper felt a dark satisfaction at that. She turned to look at Tony who had his jaw hanging. 

A suit was soon swooping down towards her, she remembered Gianna's words about the suit targeting extremis heat signatures, and she dodged a blast just by a moment. She could feel an angry haze surround her. She turned towards Tony and an idea came to her mind. She heard Tony's comment about being mad at him, and started to run towards him. She then gave herself a boost and punched through the suit. She then brought it down, and ripped off one of the arms, and punched Killian with it. He went flying back, then she saw the missile laying at her feet, and she immediately kicked it in Killian's direction and blasted it. Killian blew up in pieces. 

A cautious "Honey?" had her coming back to her senses, and she realized what happened. They bantered back and forth, and then he hugged her. She first protested at that, in the fear of burning him, but she relaxed when she realized that her body had cooled down. In his arms, she felt herself tremble, "Am I gonna be okay?" She asked Tony in a hysterical voice. And then he joked about being in a relationship with him and everything never being okay. But she was content in his arms. She felt safe. 


End file.
